In May 2012, my husband, Bob, and I toured New England, Boston, New York City, and Washington, DC, as an anniversary treat. We stopped in Kennebunkport Maine for a night or two, and I joked with Bob that I hoped I'd get a chance to say hi to Barbara Bush I called her Babs at the local grocery store.
Little did I know that I'd see her and her husband while we ate dinner at the recommended Italian spot, Grissini's, that night.
The couple sitting at the table to our left asked for a photo with them as the Bushes were leaving the restaurant, and we asked for a photo as well. Both the president and Barbara Bush were very gracious. When we said it was our anniversary, Barbara asked how many years, that triggered a little discussion about marriage longevity these days. That year we were celebrating forty-two years.
We got one of the servers to take our picture in fact, she took two shots. And during both, the former president rubbed my buttocks with the palm of his right … [Read more...]

Although my reading time has been limited since I've been working a full-time consulting job, I have managed to complete several excellent books. Here's my list since April.
Rabbit Remembered by John Updike A novella that Updike wrote in 2000, several years after he finished the Rabbit quartet. It's about the interjection of Annabelle, the illegitimate daughter to the now deceased Harry Angstrom, into the life of his middle-aged son Nelson, now separated from his wife Pru. Other key characters from the Rabbit series appear: Janice, Harry's widow, who has married Harry's old nemesis Ronnie Harrison; Judy, Harry's granddaughter, now nineteen, who plans to become an air hostess; and his fourteen-year-old grandson Roy, with whom Nelson communicates via email. It certainly was very satisfying to read how these characters turned out and to learn Rabbit did indeed father a daughter, which he suspected all along. This was a page-turner for me as were the four other Rabbit books.
Man's S … [Read more...]

I'm paying it forward in thanks for the One Lovely Blog Award I recently received from my dear friend Cate Russell-Cole. It definitely made my day to be included in her list of awardees. And it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm going to pass the award to some of my writing friends who will hopefully take the opportunity to pay it forward as well. Here are the rules:
One Lovely Blog Award Rules:
1. I need to thank the person who nominated me. check!
2. Share 7 things about myself that you still may not know. check!
3. Nominate up to 15 bloggers. check!
4. Notify the nominees that I have done so. check!
5. Put the logo of the award on my blog site. check!
Now seven things about me that you may not know:
I worked as a technical writer/editor and proposal manager in the aerospace industry for thirty years after getting a degree in English.
Both my parents were born in eastern Europe Mom from Lithuania, Dad from Poland. They met and fell in love in Chicago, wher … [Read more...]

I'm so pleased that Susan Weidener invited me to participate in this blog hop and was so generous in her praise of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. I'm now paying it forward by recommending a few traditionally and independently published books for your summer reading enjoyment. Please include some of your favorite reads in the comments below.
Adventures in Mother-Sitting by Doreen Cox. In this love story Author Doreen Cox shares her experience as a "care bear" during the last three years of her mother's life and how she learned to live with her mother's slow progression from a viable, interesting, lovable, and happy woman to a woman overcome by dementia unable to handle even her most basic bodily needs. And Doreen doesn't shirk away from those details. She repeatedly quotes her mother's mantra: "You just do what you have to do."
Doreen gave up her as a career group counselor at an alternative school for at-risk and SED high school students to care for her mother, and she never re … [Read more...]

I am thrilled and honored to be nominated by author and blogger Kathy Pooler for the 7-in-1 Award a collection of seven shiny awards all rolled in one.
About Kathy: Kathy retired as a family nurse practitioner in 2011 after forty-four years as a registered nurse. She and her husband, Wayne have a blended family of six children, ten grandsons, ages 5-24, and a Golden Retriever, Max. They live on the 135-acre land that used to be Wayne's grandfather's dairy farm where he grows organic vegetables. Life is good. Kathy's goal for 2014 is to publish her first memoir, Ever Faithful to His Lead: A Memoir About Choices and to complete my second memoir, Hope Matters: A Memoir of Faith.
Thank you so much Kathy for nominating me for the 7-in-1 blog award (and thank you for allowing me to use some of your words here). Now it's my turn to nominate some of my favorite blogs for the award as well. First things first:
Here are the rules for the 7-in-1 awards:
Display the logo on your b … [Read more...]

First of all I want to thank all my friends who participated in the Choices Guest Post Festival from the end of August to mid September:
Susan Weidener
Deborah Kalan
Viki Noe
Ace Antonio Hall
Meryl Hartstein
Chanel Brenner
Eleanor Vincent
Jerry Waxler
Sherrey Meyer
Linda Joy Myers
Karen Levy
Kathy Pooler
You all certainly raised the bar over here. During the last three and a half weeks the number of views more than doubled because of your contributions.
So it's time for me to get back to work. I need to keep the momentum going by posting myself and hosting guests as much as possible. Please let me know if you'd like to share your writing story on Choices in the near future.
On Wednesday, my guests will be Cami Ostman and Susan Tive who will share about their anthology, Beyond Belief: what happens when women of extreme r … [Read more...]

I'm so delighted to have Susan Weidener as a guest on Choices. Her words about writing - Write What Is Relevant to You - are so helpful and true. Please read about the book she is working on now, which she calls true-life fiction, and the ways she advices her group, the Women's Writing Circle, how to hone in their writing.
I certainly can attest to Susan's excellent writing. I read her memoir, Morning at Wellington Square, in about two days. I couldn't put it down. Please click here to read my review.
Please welcome Susan Weidener.
Write What Is Relevant to You
by Susan Weidener
Although I had written two memoirs and contributed to an anthology of short stories in the last three years, another project had long simmered in the back of my mind. I can't call it memoir and I can't call it fiction. So, maybe, true life fiction works.
The story comes from my imagination, but the male character's story is based on excerpts from a memoir written by my late husband, John Cav … [Read more...]